British No 1 pays the price for dropping out of the world's top four as draw
for US Open leaves him with a mountain to climb

Life gets tougher when you drop out of the world’s top four, as Andy Murray was reminded on Thursday. The US Open draw served him up the scariest list of names since the Addams Family, including the possibility of a quarter-final against world No 1 Novak Djokovic.

There was an audible buzz from the assembled scribes and camera crews as Murray’s name came out of the pot, and landed in the last place he would have wanted. “I just need to get that winning mentality back,” he told one interviewer this week. But his draw – which also threw up possible meetings with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco – has hardly done him any favours.

Some might say Murray only has himself to blame. His lean spell since last year’s Wimbledon triumph has left him vulnerable, with a ranking of No 9 that was boosted to a seeding of No 8 by the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal with a wrist injury.

The only positive is that few are expecting much from him. Murray has not beaten a top-10 player since that unforgettable Wimbledon final against Djokovic, and for the first time in two years, he is arriving at a major event without a grand slam title in his possession. Perhaps the sense of beginning the climb all over again will bring the best out of him.

As it happens, Murray and Djokovic played out a dress-rehearsal on Thursday in front of 22,000 empty seats on Arthur Ashe Stadium. It is normally Murray’s habit to spar with Nadal in the lead-up to big events, but in the absence of the defending champion, he had to make do with the world No 1.

The practice set was hard-fought, and when Djokovic fell behind in the tie-break he signalled his commitment by hurling his racket to the ground and walloping a ball out of the stadium (or as near as you can get in this cavernous place). The mini-tantrum seemed to revive him and he promptly reeled off six straight points to finish the contest and underline Murray’s recent problems in closing out winning positions.

From Murray’s perspective, even to reach the second week would be a respectable achievement. He opens against Robin Haase, the talented Dutchman who gave him a real scare in the second round of the 2011 US Open.

If he gets through that one, his most likely opponents would be Radek Stepanek, who beat him at Queen’s a couple of months ago, in the second round, followed by possible meetings with Verdasco and Tsonga.

Of course, draws rarely pan out the way they look on paper, but there is no doubt that Murray’s quarter of the field is the spikiest on show. By contrast, the two Swiss masters – Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka – can thank the US Open’s computers for spitting out some comfortable opponents in the early rounds.

On the women’s side, Heather Watson should be pleased to have drawn Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who started the year just outside the top 20 but now stands at No 81. If Watson wins that one, she could play Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard in what would be a fascinating second-round match-up, especially as Bouchard has also struggled for form since the grass-court season.

Britain’s No 2, Johanna Konta, also has a winnable tie against Shahar Peer, of Israel, who stands 44 places below her on the ladder at No 155. The most enticing first-round match in the tournament, though, must be the one between defending champion Serena Williams and the gifted and stylish 18-year-old Taylor Townsend.

Williams has rediscovered her form since the bizarre episode at Wimbledon when she walked onto court in what looked like a hypnotic trance, and could not even catch the balls when they were passed to her, let alone hit them across the net. Asked about the mystery on Thursday, she was typically enigmatic. “I worked really hard before Wimbledon,” Williams said, “but it just didn’t transpire there.”